Oakland A’s: ALDS Game 2 vs. Astros feels like a must-win

Recent Oakland A’s playoff history suggests being down two games in the ALDS would be less than ideal for the 2020 AL West Champions.

Normally, five runs is enough to win a baseball game, even one of playoff proportions.

That was the number of runs scored by the Oakland A’s offense in Monday’s game one of the ALDS against the Houston Astros.

Looking back at the very recent best-of-three Wild Card series against the Chicago White Sox, Oakland scored five and six runs, respectively, in the games they won to get to this point.

You get the idea. The lineup puts up five or more runs, followed by the American League’s top bullpen in 2020 coming in late to close out the game. Generally speaking, a sound formula that has worked on the majority of occasions.

Except when it didn’t on Monday against Houston.

In the A’s first division series appearance since 2014, Khris Davis mashed a two-run homer off Astros starter Lance McCullers. Slugging first baseman Matt Olson knocked one of his own over the fence, as did catcher Sean Murphy.

It wouldn’t prove to be enough.

On the pitching side, Chris Bassitt was unspectacular, a surprise given his second half emergence. But while “unspectacular” might be the word that encapsulates the A’s starting rotation as a whole, the bullpen is the true pitching strength of the team.

After Yusmeiro Petit‘s scoreless fifth inning in relief of Bassitt, it looked as though the unit would once again deliver.

Spoiler alert: they didn’t this time in a rare hiccup. Instead, shortstop Marcus Semien‘s sixth inning fielding error led to the Astros scoring four unearned runs, all off reliever JB Wendelken. Lou Trivino and Jordan Weems combined to give up three more earned runs before the day was out.

All in all, it was an unceremonious outing for the Oakland A’s bullpen, the one seemingly infallible aspect of the team.

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Of course, the bullpen shouldn’t receive all the blame. After all, they can’t control what their fielders do behind them. But in the end, bullpens are meant to specialize in damage control, and that mission was not accomplished in Monday’s contest.

As a result, the A’s find themselves down one game to none in the ALDS, looking to knot up the series in game two on Tuesday.

And history suggests this game two is a rather important one for the boys in green and gold.

Oakland hasn’t been to an ALCS this decade. Elimination games have been the culprit, with the team losing consecutive ALDS game fives in 2012 and 2013. They’ve also lost the one-and-done Wild Card game in 2014, 2018, and 2019.

Therefore, if the recent past is any indication, being down two games to none in this best-of-five series would present a dreaded potential elimination scenario on Wednesday, a situation Oakland should be looking to avoid at all costs.

The Oakland A’s will turn to veteran lefty Sean Manaea in game two while the Astros send out a lefty of their own in Framber Valdez, who was excellent during the 2020 regular season.

In a pivotal game two, every option should be on the table for manager Bob Melvin. The question will be whether his players execute for him.